Norfolk Closes In On Ahl Franchise

January 17, 1999|By WARNER HESSLER Daily Press

Norfolk's five-year effort to move up to the American Hockey League is expected to come closer to being a reality this week when Hampton Roads Admirals owners Mark Garcea and Page Johnson announce they have signed a working agreement with the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League.

Johnson said "there will be a news release shortly'', and several sources inside the organization hinted that a deal with the Blackhawks is close to being finalized. Chicago, one of the six original members of the NHL, would stock the team with players and the Admirals' ownership group would handle off-ice operations.

No decision has been made on whether the Blackhawks would allow popular Admirals coach John Brophy to remain behind the bench.

"We haven't addressed the coaching situation yet,'' said Steve Williams, the Blackhawks' assistant player personnel director who attended an Admirals game in mid-December and filed a generally favorable review of the Hampton Roads operation.

"Hampton Roads seems to be a market that enjoys the sport,'' Williams said. "The response to hockey there seems very good, and that's important to us.''

Announcing the working agreement with Chicago this coming week will allow Garcea and Johnson to meet a condition imposed by Norfolk city officials that they secure a working agreement with an NHL team by Jan. 22, or risk losing their lease at Norfolk Scope.

Other deadlines facing Garcea and Johnson include:

* They must submit playing dates to the AHL office by late April to be included on next season's schedule;

* They must pay the balance of the AHL's $2 million expansion fee, believed to by about $1.7 million, by May 15;

* They must relocate the current ECHL team to another city, possibly by next Friday. Two cities that had been considered, Memphis and Fayetteville, N.C., are believed to have been removed from the list.

Williams said the Blackhawks, who have 23 minor league players scattered among three teams, want to get all of their top prospects on one AHL team next season. Currently, six players are with Portland of the AHL, 13 with Indianapolis of the International Hockey League, and three with Greenville of the ECHL.

"We are not comfortable having players on several teams,'' Williams said. "It's in our interest to have our players on one team, and that we to do that next year.''

Johnson has had discussions with several NHL teams regarding a working agreement, including the Los Angeles Kings and Nashville Predators, and there were reports that Nashville was still in the running for the Hampton Roads market.

Nashville currently sends its players to Milwaukee of the IHL, and has yet to renew a contract that runs out at the end of this season. When told that Garcea and Johnson must get a working agreement with an NHL team by next Friday or lose its lease at Scope, Nashville president David Poile all but removed his team from consideration.

"We have not (renewed) with Milwaukee, and we won't begin to address that until the end of this month,'' he said. "If they have to get it done by next week, then they are talking to somebody else.''